On my most recent visit to Amsterdam I stopped in to visit with Mila, one of my favorite ladies, and winner of the Highlife Cannabis Cup, “Man!” of the Year Award. Mila, who runs the Pollinator Company, is almost single handedly responsible for the development of “Scuff” in Holland, due mainly to her invention, “The Pollinator”, a tumble dryer type device that removes the resin glands from dried cannabis leaves. While we sat drinking tea, a local grower was busy using the in house pollinator to make hash. After only 20 minutes in the pollinator, he got about 45 grams of pollen from the 450 grams of leaf that he was working with. Under Mila’s microscope it looked absolutely fantastic! Just a pile of opaque glass-like crystals! Mila informed me that the globular crystals were much stronger than the stick-like crystals. If you stop the Pollinator after only three to five minutes, the pollen extracted is 90% globules and 10 % sticks. The longer you leave the pollinator on, the higher the percentage of stick like crystals. Although this hash is very good, it is less strong than that created in the first few minutes.
Mila started pulling bits of hash out that she had made in different ways. My favorite was a hand worked piece that looked like a piece of gummy Moroccan. Smelled a bit like it too.
Mila explained her new contraption with which she had made that particular piece of hash. The Ice-O-Lator.
I had long since known the water separation method of making hash as being the best to date, but until someone simplified it, it was far too messy, and almost to the point of it and miss. But Mila has done exactly that; simplified it!
Mila brought out two bags. Both were of nylon type material, with a fine nylon type screen in the bottom. The first bag had a screen that would hold pollen, but would allow water to pass through. The second would hold leaf, but allow both both water and pollen to pass through. Taking a standard twentyfive litre plastic tub, the first bag is inserted to form a lining around the bottom and sides of the tub. The second bag (the one that allows pollen to pass through it) is then inserted, forming a second lining, separated at the bottom from the first .
Then she put the growers grass in, filled the tub with water and ice (cold water causes the resin glands to drop more easily froom the leaf), put the sealed top onto the tub and pushed an electric cake mixer through a hole at the top. After allowing the leaf to soak for about half an hour, she switched the mixer on. After an hour of mixing, the top was taken off, and the first bag (of wet grass) was extracted, wrung out, and opened to reveal about 25 odd grams of pollen that had been missed by the pollinator! Under the microscope this pollen revealed itself to be 90% crystals and 10% sticks. Excellent!
Mila expained that you then leave the pollen to sit out and dry until is just tacky to the toutch, then work it in the palm of your hand, using your thumb to press it down, until you have a dark, gummy piece of hash. Now what could be simpler?
Not only is the Ice-O-Lator simple, but it’s also cheep! At one hundred and seventy five guilders (about 50 pounds) you can’t go wrong! The bad news is that you’ve got to find your own twenty five litre tub, (internationally standard sizes), and your own electric mixer!
Sadly of course, it’s illegal to grow cannabis and make hash in the United Kingdom…But it’s always interesting to know what the Dutch are up to.

Comments

Hi Bob,
When speaking of ‘leaves’, we are referring to all leaf material that carries trichomes. From large to very small. Loose, gland-packed leaves are the easiest material to work with.
If by “good stuff” you mean the flower itself, well we do exactly as we do with all the rest of the leaf material. 🙂
The only difference being that you might have to break up your dense flowers before processing, in order to separate and collect all crystals.
All the best!
Pollinator Team